The Pony, the Sphinx, and the Immortal

by HapHazred

Present Day: The Eternal Column

“I’m very sorry,” Celestia said. “I didn’t realise that Zerephonzidas would go as far as he has just to find his ‘column’.” She rubbed her forehead. “When he asked for me to find this place, I thought it would be as innocent a favour as he could have asked.”

Twilight felt nothing but relief as her mentor took control of the situation. Guards secured the entrance to the ruins, guarding it watchfully in case Zerephonzidas or any glass statues escaped.

“I thought it was just going to be an excavation,” she said. “I didn’t realise any of this would happen.”

Celestia strode through the caves. “Neither did I. If I did, I would never have helped Zerephonzidas find this place.” She sighed. “I thought it would be just repayment for services rendered. He helped me a long time ago, you know.”

Twilight frowned. “It’s possible the column has been affecting him in the same way it’s been affecting Applejack. Or… something similar, at least.” She shuddered. “And now he’s gotten to the column… Who knows what he’ll do now.”

Celestia nodded. “In any case, he’s dangerous and needs to be brought in.”

Twilight looked into the ruins. Yes, Zerephonzidas was dangerous… but more than that, she still needed to see the column herself.

“The good news is, he’s injured,” Twilight said. “Badly.”

“I know. I imagine he’s in a similar condition as Rainbow Dash, yes?”

Twilight looked at her hooves. “Y-yes.”

“I think that, given the circumstances, it’s forgivable to forget that what affects one spell, affects any of the other same spells, unless you’ve made a conscious effort to separate them.”

“I didn’t… I thought it would be easier to just piggyback Rainbow’s spell on Zerephonzidas’s. I didn’t know I’d do what I did.”

Celestia nodded. “I know, Twilight. At least she’ll heal, in time.” She trotted to the ruin entrance. “If you’re ready, I would rather be done with this sooner rather than later.”

Twilight shook her fear off and trotted after her. “Yes. I’m sure that together, we can take him.”

“And just in case…” Celestia said, and beckoned to four of her guards. “I’m sure my soldiers will help.”

“I can’t imagine what could overcome two alicorn princesses,” Twilight said.

“Well, I am over one thousand years old, Twilight,” Celestia said. “There are some things that even pilates can’t fix, and I don’t seem to… preserve as well as a sphinx.”

Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to face Rarity, who was freshly bandaged up.

“Twilight,” Rarity said, “I know that after everything, you want to know what the column is as much as Zerephonzidas does…”

“I don’t…”

“Just don’t let it consume you. Not like him,” she said. “You have more to live for than just satisfying curiosity.”

Twilight nodded. “All right.”

Celestia put a hoof to her head. “You put up a spell to dampen the noises from the column, yes?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes.”

“Turn it off for a second,”

Twilight obliged.

The ringing in everypony’s ears was deafening. Celestia covered her ears, gritting her teeth. Where the noise had once been little more than an uncomfortable irritation that drilled through into ponies sleep, now it was more like a foghorn.

It had gotten worse.

Twilight put the spell back up again.

“What was that?” Rarity asked, breathing heavily.

“It’s like it’s trying to take control of us,” Twilight said.

“No,” Celestia said. “I’ve heard plenty of screams in my time. That was nothing more than a cry for help. You can hear the desperation.”

“Help? What could possibly be calling for help down here?” Rarity asked.

Twilight bit her lip.

“The statues, for starters.”

“Something here isn’t as dead inside as you thought,” Celestia said. “Come on. Let’s go and find Zerephonzidas.”

---

The light from Celestia’s horn was blinding. The alicorn seemed determined to exterminate the darkness in an apocalypse of brightness. Twilight trotted in front, keeping a shield ready. Celestia’s keen senses kept her alert.

“Have you ever seen another sphinx, other than Zerephonzidas?” Twilight asked.

“No,” Celestia said. “I think Zerephonzidas may well be the last of his kind. I tried searching for more, but without luck. Perhaps far away from Equestria, some yet survive.”

Twilight bit her lip. “That’d be nice.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t really like the idea of Zerephonzidas being the last of his race. It’d be nice for the last sphinx to be… I don’t know. Nobler, perhaps. Less obsessed.”

“From what I understand, Zerephonzidas is one of the nobler examples,” Celestia said. “Sphinx are not nice creatures. They are predators, and they evolved to look down on short lived species.” She frowned. “The longer you give somepony, the more likely they are to… break.”

“I suppose it’s impressive then that Zerephonzidas lasted this long.”

“Hmm.”

The team reached the point where they had fought the sphinx the first time. The blood still stained the floor. Twilight could see the splatter where Zerephonzidas had cut through Rarity, and the dark red paw-prints where Zerephonzidas had stepped to escape Twilight and her friends. She could even see the small puddle due to Rainbow’s injury.

“If he hadn’t had to try biting us instead of just using his claws, I might never have had time to react,” Twilight said. “He’s unnaturally fast.”

“Hopefully slower now,” Celestia said. “Come on. Keep a teleport spell ready in case he tried to ambush us.”

The six ponies entered the large room beyond the corridor. Celestia’s guards flanked them, raising spears to fend off any attack.

There were no glass statues left. They must have all gone down the corridor to be smashed by Twilight and Zerephonzidas earlier. Sitting on the ground was Zerephonzidas. His bloody and twisted paws had stopped bleeding. His eyes stared at the team of ponies with cold malevolence.

“Celestia,” he said. His voice sounded weaker, but somehow more composed.

Twilight realised he was compensating. Zerephonzidas had been used to being in a commanding, powerful position. Even when he was trapped alone, he must still have felt superior to Douglas. Now, though, he was like a cornered animal, trying to convince them he was the one who had trapped them.

Twilight had worried that despite his injuries, he would still be a danger, but Zerephonzidas could barely walk.

“It’s been a long time, Zerephonzidas,” Celestia said. “I found Starswirl’s journal.”

“I liked Starswirl. He became paranoid in his old age, though.”

“He wasn’t paranoid. He was right.”

Zerephonzidas snorted. “Ponies always break eventually. His mind was rattling long before he was convinced to turn against me.”

Celestia looked over Zerephonzidas’s shoulder. “What is…”

The column absorbed all of Twilight’s attention. It was like looking at something that was omnipresent. It looked black, but not because that was it’s colour… It was more like it was dense, concentrated space trying to occupy one small area. Words that Twilight didn’t think could apply to appearance sprung into her mind. The column was… It was infinity. Eternity. A tower of foreverness, standing against a changing, entropic universe.

“That,” Zerephonzidas said, “Is my column.” He closed his eyes. “You can take a closer look. I’m not going to fight today.”

Twilight’s horn flashed anyway. “Do you think you can manipulate us any more?”

Zerephonzidas shook his head.

“No,” he said. “I surrender.”

Zerephonzidas sounded drained of energy. His last sentence crushed him, physically and mentally. It was as if a mountain had turned into a valley, bent by time.

Celestia examined the column. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said.

“You won’t see anything like it elsewhere,” Zerephonzidas said. “Things this unique… they only happen once. They have to happen somewhere. This world is too full of possibility that something can fail to exist somewhere, somewhen. But twice? No, that is too much, even for this sphere.”

Twilight swallowed. “There’s something inside it.”

“Yes, there is,” Zerephonzidas replied. “Can you tell what it is?”

Twilight peered closer. Inside the column of… everythingness, something wriggled… Or tried to. It was immobile, stuck like a fly in amber, trapped. Caged.

On the floor in front of the column was a suit of armour. It was dark green, and blackened by time.

“It’s a pony,” Twilight said, growing pale. “That’s a live pony, Zerephonzidas.” She turned on the sphinx, passion flashing in her eyes. “What have you done?”

“I didn’t do this,” Zerephonzidas said. “I couldn’t have.”

Celestia blanched. “That pony is alive?”

Zerephonzidas nodded. “He’s a true immortal. I wondered where he might have ended up. It turns out he was here all along.” Zerephonzidas began to laugh. “I used to wonder why I couldn’t see what was in the column, five-thousand years ago. I couldn’t have guessed that it was because it wasn’t there yet.”

“Explain.”

“The Emerald King… or rather, the pony powering the desert kingdoms… That’s him. The magicians wanted to make him immortal. They wanted him to live forever.” Zerephonzidas caught Celestia and Twilight’s look. “Not like me or you, Celestia. I mean true immortality. The purest form of it. No uncertainty. The Emerald King will live forever.” Zerephonzidas darkened. “From the beginning of time right until the end.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that when the ponies arrived here many years ago, they found the Emerald King. I simply couldn’t see him because he was both inside the column and outside it.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Over a million years, you learn that impossible things often become possible over time.”

Twilight swallowed. She looked into the Emerald King’s eyes. She had never seen such helplessness, such unadulterated horror in a ponies eyes.

“Can we get him out?”

Zerephonzidas shrugged. “If it’s possible, I don’t know how.” He sighed. “You see, he’s already lived forever. Forwards and back. He’s outside time, now.” Zerephonzidas managed a small smile. “That’s the difference between me and him. I don’t know that I’ll forever. I can’t observe myself living forever, because forever keeps on going. But him? For him, it’s different.”

Twilight bit her lip. “That’s horrible.”

“Yes. True immortality. What a joke.” He chuckled. “When the stars die and all life goes away, he will be here. When the universe dies by heat death, he’ll be watching. When the next cycle begins, he’ll be here, ready to go again. And he’s already seen all of that and more.”

Twilight rubbed her forehead. “We have to be able to get him out.”

Celestia put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s already been done, Twilight.”

“No, you’re talking about things that haven’t happened yet. He hasn’t lived forever yet. We can stop…”

“Time is broken here. That’s what the spell was for. Within that column, eternity has already happened.”

Twilight took a step back.

“That’s…”

Celestia sighed. “I’m sorry, Twilight, but we need to…”

“...fascinating.” Twilight swallowed. “Horrifying, but… I’ve never seen magic like this before.”

Zerephonzidas grinned. “You see now why I live only to see magic? It’s exploring the limits of possibility itself. It’s incredible.”

“This isn’t worth it,” Celestia said. “If there’s nothing to be done here, we need to leave. This should stay buried.”

“I expected more of you, Celestia,” Zerephonzidas said. “Perhaps after ten-thousand years, you’ll come around to my way of thinking.”

Zerephonzidas’s read legs snapped together, bound by a glowing, magical chain. His broken forelegs were next, causing the sphinx to shout in pain.

“You’re going to jail,” Celestia said. “For a long, long time.”

“I’ll wait. Eventually, your prison will fail.”

Twilight turned away from the column. “I don’t know what to think about all this.”

“There’s nothing to think,” Celestia said. “It’s just a problem to fix. We’ve already lost one life here, and that’s one too many.”

“Oh, another pony will show up eventually. Honestly, why even bother keeping them alive?” Zerephonzidas asked.

“Because they’re mine,” Celestia replied. “They’re why I live, now.”

Zerephonzidas paused for a minute, then shrugged.

“Fair enough.”

Celestia turned to Twilight. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Twilight slowly nodded. “Yes, I think that would be best.”

Trapped inside eternity, the Immortal King stared out endlessly.

Twilight hesitated.

“Can we at least move it to the surface?”

Celestia looked back at her student.

“What good will that do?”

“I don’t know. Give him something to look at, at least. For a while, at least.”

Celestia looked back at the Immortal King. “Yes, perhaps that would be best. It’s better than nothing, at least.”

Zerephonzidas snorted. “It won’t change anything.”

“Anything is possible,” Twilight replied. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I never want to see the inside of a cave again.”

---

When Twilight, Celestia and the guards emerged from the ruins, a lot of the diggers were looking anxiously at the entrance. Many expected a wrathful sphinx, not a tired team of ponies assisting an injured prisoner.

The silence was deafening. Rainbow had stopped moaning in pain and had become docile, at times examining her injured hooves, wrapped in bandages and attached to a splint. More work would need to be done upon her return to Ponyville, but for now, it would have to do.

Rarity was sitting down, unwilling to pull out her brand new set of stitches from Zerephonzidas’s attack. She watched the sphinx closely, never taking her eyes off him for a moment.

Applejack was nowhere to be found. Later, Twilight found her by the entrance to the caves, as far away from the ruins, and the column, as possible. It helped her head.

Zerephonzidas, for his part, stared straight ahead. Now distanced from the column, he had entered a sort of catatonia. He didn’t even show any display of pain when he knocked his broken paws against stray rocks as he was assisted by the team of guards. He was set down away from the other ponies, in chains not even a powerful sphinx could break.

“What happened to him? He seemed almost fine back in the ruins,” Twilight asked.

“I suspect him focussing on the column was the only thing keeping him sane,” Celestia said. “I honestly don’t know what to do with him. I could put him away, and by rights, I should, but…”

Twilight kept an eye on their prisoner. What could he even be thinking? Not even Twilight really knew what to think. So much effort, and even a lost life, just to discover that a pony was trapped inside a spell she couldn’t break.

It was hard to justify.

“I think that, if he’s really dangerous, he needs to be put away. If he’s… broken… he still needs to be put away, for our safety… and his.”

Celestia pondered, then nodded. “Yes. I think that’s wise.” She sighed. “For a long time, he was the only thing that could really talk to me as an equal. We both saw the world in a different way than normal ponies.”

“Is it bad? Living that long, I mean.”

“No, it’s just… I don’t know.” She sighed. “It’s only bad if you stop caring, I think.”

Twilight looked at Zerephonzidas’s empty expression once again.

“I see,” she said.

Celestia sighed. “Come on. Let’s pack up and get your friends to a real hospital.”

Author's Note:

And that's NaPoWriMo finished.

I'm very grateful to anyone who made it this far: it got pretty tiresome writing this every single day after about the 30K word mark. Now all that I have to do is go back and edit every single chapter... a process that should only take me two or three decades.

No biggie.

In all seriousness, I will hopefully be keeping gents updated via blog posts about editing the story. Once I get around to it, I'm expecting a lot of significant changes, such as going back into earlier chapters to adress consistency issues, foreshadowing, redundant scenes, add important scenes, and of course, clean up the clumsy writing. NaPoWriMo is more about getting lots of words out into the world than it is about careful editing. If anyone has any comments whatsoever, now is the time, as I'll easily be able to incorporate them into any changes I might make. Even just knowing what you liked is helpful.

Even so, don't expect big changes any time soon: I really need a break after this. It's been exhausting.

Cheerio, and I hope you enjoyed the story! 50K words in a month! Woohoo.

Comments

[Skylarking the Stargazer]

Oh... I didn't expect it to end that quick...

Anyways, you want edit help? I can point a few out and embarrass you in public!

[HapHazred]

7761385 Eventually, but frankly, first I just want to rest for a bit.

I've been writing 2k words daily, and it's been a bit exhausting. I'd still love to hear any thoughts you have, but it'll take me a while to get to actually using what you say constructively. There's a lot I want to fix myself, actually, mostly to do with Zerephonzidas's consistency, a lot of the descriptions, and some of the more redundant scenes.

I actually calculated the estimated word-count early on and plotted how far I wanted to go. I tried to make it fit neatly into 50k words, but I expect the edited version to probably grow longer. They usually do.

[changeling khaos]

Well that was something. Good work on the story.

[Starglider]

Great suspense and certainly the best treatment of MLP sphinxes I've seen.